Butter Naan, Butter Chicken, Masala Dosa, Idli, Vada Pao, Chole Bhature, and Kerala Paratha are the dishes you are going to find rarely in Germany. If you have a passion for cooking and are ready to cook different German dishes, the professional cook is a great choice for you.
How does the training work?
The Vocational Training to become a professional cook lasts usually three years whereas the theory classes take place in the vocational school and the practical sessions take place in the company i.e hotels or restaurants.
During these three years, you will be learning to create menus, purchase groceries, create and prepare new different dishes, supervise staff, and store groceries and food dishes, etc.
What you do as a professional cook?
The chef or a professional cook is a person who is the main person responsible for the entire kitchen operation including creating the menu to bringing a variety of foods to the table.
The chef has to be ready to cater to the customers as per their choice, as per the season, per the region, etc.
In some restaurants, the chefs are responsible for creating a list of the needed items and purchasing them at the best quality and less prices. Once the items are purchased, it is also the chef’s responsibility to store them as per the required temperature and specified hygiene regulations.
A chef’s area of work also contains a regular check of the shelf life of the food. As far as the main job is concerned, cleaning and cutting salad or meat and preparing it further to make it a dish or side dish by using the kitchen appliances is a very essential part of the job.
What do you need to become a professional cook/ chef?
Become a professional cook if you are 10+2 passed, aged between 18 years to 30 years.
Good command of the German Language and at least a B1-level certificate.
Should enjoy cooking and you must be a good team player, perfectionist, skilled and creative.
What are the opportunities as a Chef in Germany or in India?
Cooks/ Chefs are wanted all over Germany so finding a job after Ausbildung is very easy.
As a cook, you work in kitchens, restaurants, hotels, nursing homes, catering companies, canteens hospitals, food industry with frozen or ready-to-eat food. You can also plan to open your own restaurant in Germany or in your homeland.
How to apply to get a place in Ausbildung?
If you have not yet started learning German, you must begin to learn the German language up to level B1. Once you have Goethe or Telc or OSD B1 certification, you can start the process. Below are the steps of the application process and the required documents:
The documents required:
10 + 2 certifications:
If the certifications are in the other language than English, these must be translated into German or English by a certified translator.
Birth Certification:
If the certification is in the other language than English, it must be translated into German or English by a certified translator.
Valid Passport:
One must possess a valid Indian passport.
Your CV:
Your detailed, updated CV must be in German Language and must contain all possible personal and professional details.
Biometric photographs:
A biometric photograph is made to meet international standards for documents such as passports, residence permits, or applications, where the face of the applicant is frontal.
You must get it done from a professional photo studio near you. The same photograph is needed later while you apply for Visa so it is suggested to get some extra copies beforehand.
Cover Letter:
You must write an attractive and appealing application cover letter where you must mention the reasons why you choose to become a professional cook or chef.
What attracts you to choose this profession?
Would you be ready to face challenges during the training period?
Are you ready to work 9 hours a day?
A cover letter is a very important document to convince the employer to hire you for the vocational training position so it is suggested to take the help of a professional content writer.
Vaccination certificates:
You must have vaccination certificates for both doses done in India. Without these certificates, you might apply for the position but you will not be granted a visa by the embassy.
Valid Living address in Germany:
While applying for a vocational training position, you must be having a valid residential address, which enables you to apply and the employer to release the offer letter.
Without a living address in Germany, even though you are from Non-EU Country, the employer will not be able to release the offer letter.
The entire process to get a place in Ausbildung in Germany:
Application Process:
You must first find an open position for a professional cook on the websites available and carefully read the instructions and look for each detail and requirement.
submit all the documents (mentioned above) online or through email. Here, you can apply to more than one open position, with different employers.
The documents mentioned above, including your residential proof in Germany, must be scanned by a professional scanner and the quality of the scanned pdfs must be very good.
You should scan both the front and back pages of your valid passport and submit it.
Interview:
Once you submit your application or apply through email by sending your application form and all the documents through email, it might take a couple of weeks for the employer(s) to evaluate your profile and decide whether to interview you or not.
The candidates who have applied for the position without having a residential address in Germany are not called for an interview.
Once your profile is selected, the employer communicates with you to have a one-on-one interview either offline or online. During the personal interview, you would be asked different relevant questions by an interview panel.
The entire aim of this interview would be to know about you and your hobbies, your family, your educational background, your intent to choose this particular profession, your commitment to pursue vocational training for three years, and your command over the German Language.
Once the employer is satisfied with your performance in this personal interview, the employer is going to send you the offer letter. In case you do not qualify for this interview round, you must apply elsewhere to try your luck.
Offer Letter:
The time taken from the day of the interview to getting the offer letter might be between 8-10 days. Once you receive the offer letter, you must go through/ read it very carefully.
The offer letter contains all the necessary information about the vocational training, joining date, duration, your stipend during the training, your employer’s details, your contact person’s details, weekly working hours, annual leaves, etc.
Once you agree with the terms and conditions, you must sign the offer letter and send it back to the employer.
You need to check that you must get a monthly stipend an amount of 950 per month.
If your training stipend amount is below the required amount, you must open a blocked account or you must submit the declaration of commitment from a third party i.e your sponsor.
Admission in Berufsschule (Professional School):
Once you have got the offer letter, you must apply to the professional school of the same trade in the same city or region. You can take help from the employer to find out an appropriate school for your vocational training.
Employers generally share this information with their candidates and provide their assistance.
Visa Appointment/ Application:
After getting the offer letter from the employer and admission letter from a professional school, you need to get some other approvals from the local authorities in Germany such as BA & IHK. Your employer is going to help you in this regard.
It takes a total of 3-4 weeks to get all the relevant documents to book your visa appointment with your nearby German Consulate or VFS. Generally, there is a waiting list but with continuous trying, you can succeed to book a slot for your personal visa interview within a week or 10 days.
The applicant is suggested to book an appointment as soon as possible, keeping the joining date/ starting date of the vocational training in mind.
You must go through the VFS or German Embassy website to get the checklist of the documents you require during your personal visa interview.
You must fill out all the required forms and carry all your original certificates and two identical sets of scanned documents (in good quality) as per the checklist. Once you fulfill all these requirements; your file will be submitted and you need to pay a visa fee of EUR 75 (INR 6300) and you need to go through a biometric procedure.
Visa fee is paid by cheque and in some places also by cash. Before you go for a visa interview, you must check the mode of payment of the Visa fee on the website of your local/ regional German Consulate.
Once you have paid the fee, you would be getting an invoice with details of your application file. The invoice receipt has to be kept safe for further reference/ processes.
Visa:
As per the German Consulate website, the time taken to grant or reject a Visa is 4-8 weeks. Visa rejection chances are null to very less. Most of the files are processed within the given timelines.
There might be some files where some document is missing or something has gone wrong. In such cases, the applicant receives the messages on his/ her mobile or email. The candidate must act as per the instruction.
Once the Visa is approved, the passport is sent through post to the postal address mentioned on the passport.
After getting the Visa, the candidate must book the journey tickets from India to Germany or say from his place to the employer’s place. One must also make a list of the items to be taken along to Germany keeping the weather, and necessity in the mind.
This is the process to get into vocational training as a professional cook or chef. The entire duration is 10- 12 months for the candidates who don’t know German and has to start learning the language.
The time taken to learn the German Language from A1 to B1 is generally 6-7 months and the time taken to apply, get docs and visa, etc is 3-4 months. If someone has a B1 certificate already, the time taken in the process is 3-4 months. Also, the B1 certificate should not be older than 7 months at the time of application.
If it is older than 7 months, the candidate might need to write the B1 exam again to obtain a fresh certificate.
If you are facing any challenges or issues at any step during this process to get a place in Ausbildung in Germany, you can contact us without any hesitation. We, at Krislingua-The German Language Institute, are a one-stop solution provider for Ausbildung or Vocational Training in Germany and would be very happy to assist you.
If there is something that has been missed or not covered or you still need to get some more info, please feel free to contact us through calls/ WhatsApp at 8297495857 or you can write us at contact@krislingua.com or visit our website at www.krislingua.com.
